Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
Ver. 29. Out of whose womb came the ice] Indeed of ice and water is said in a sense,
Mater me genuit: eadem mox gignitur ex me.
But these creatures are not produced by causes which are constant and invariable in nature, as human generation is, but they proceed from God's pure and simple free will.
And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?] Out of the heaven, that is, out of the lower region of the air, cometh the matter of it, but God maketh it. Naturalists say that the hoar frost is a vapour congealed by a cold wind in cold places of the lower region of the air; as in winter we see the breath that cometh out of the mouth to congeal and hang upon the beard and hairs. This hoar frost is answerable in the counter point to the dew, but lasteth much longer.